Eva Marie confronts Mia Khalifa

The age old complaint over wrestling being “fake” seems to crop up every other year and this time an unlikely source is defending her old stomping ground.

Former WWE Superstar Eva Marie, real name Natalie Eva Marie, recently sat down with Complex News’ Out of Bounds show to discuss Mia Khalifa‘s comment about wrestling not being a real sport. She also talks about her transition to acting and more.

On challenging Mia Khalifa’s claims that wrestling isn’t a real sport: “Some moves are [choreographed], so like you’ll go over your finish, whoever’s gonna win or lose because that’s predetermined. However, when you’re in there, usually you’re just going toe-to-toe. So like, if I have you in a headlock, then I’m telling you right then and there what we’re doing next. NFL, NBA, they all have off-seasons. Wrestling doesn’t have an off-season. We’re on the road 209 days out of the year, performing in different cities every single night. Where you have your NBA, and NFL and major league and they’re taking charter flights going to the next city. We’re driving in rent-a-cars to the next city.”

On the difference between training for acting and wrestling: “You have to put your body through a lot of physicality with wrestling. You’re saying you think it’s fake, however when you get in the ring, you’re really taking those bumps…Then when it comes to acting, you’re trying to get out of yourself and be a whole other person, which also helps with WWE, too, because you’re playing a character at the end of the day.”

Natalie is currently modeling and continues to work on her own fashion line.

What do you think about this interview? Are you keeping up with Natalie’s career out of the ring? Sound off in the comments below.